A morphological study of retinal changes in unilateral amblyopia using optical coherence tomography image segmentation.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the possible structural changes of the macula in patients with unilateral amblyopia using optical coherence tomography (OCT) image segmentation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 38 consecutive patients (16 male; mean age 32.4+/-17.6 years; range 6-67 years) with unilateral amblyopia were involved in this study. OCT examinations were performed with a time-domain OCT device, and a custom-built OCT image analysis software (OCTRIMA) was used for OCT image segmentation. The axial length (AL) was measured by a LenStar LS 900 device. Macular layer thickness, AL and manifest spherical equivalent refraction (MRSE) of the amblyopic eye were compared to that of the fellow eye. We studied if the type of amblyopia (strabismus without anisometropia, anisometropia without strabismus, strabismus with anisometropia) had any influence on macular layer thickness values. RESULTS: There was significant difference between the amblyopic and fellow eyes in MRSE and AL in all subgroups. Comparing the amblyopic and fellow eyes, we found a statistically significant difference only in the thickness of the outer nuclear layer in the central region using linear mixed model analysis keeping AL and age under control (p = 0.032). There was no significant difference in interocular difference in the thickness of any macular layers between the subgroups with one-way between-groups ANCOVA while statistically controlling for interocular difference in AL and age. CONCLUSIONS: According to our results there are subtle changes in amblyopic eyes affecting the outer nuclear layer of the fovea suggesting the possible involvement of the photoreceptors. However, further studies are warranted to support this hypothesis

Environmentalism in the EU-28 context: the impact of governance quality on environmental energy efficiency

Environmental policies are a significant cornerstone of a developed economy, but the question that arises is whether such policies lead to a sustainable growth path. It is clear that the energy sector plays a pivotal role in environmental policies, and although the current literature has focused on examining the link between energy consumption and economic growth through an abundance of studies, it does not explicitly consider the role of institutional or governance quality variables in the process. Both globalization and democracy are important drivers of sustainability, while environmentalism is essential for the objective of gaining a “better world.” Governance quality is expected to be the key, not only for economic purposes but also for the efficiency of environmental policies. To that end, the analysis in this paper explores the link between governance quality and energy efficiency for the EU-28 countries, spanning the period 1995 to 2014. The findings document that there is a nexus between energy efficiency and income they move together: the most efficient countries are in the group with higher GDP per capita. Furthermore, the results show that governance quality is an important driver of energy efficiency and, hence, of environmental policies.University of Granad

The evaluation of right ventricle systolic and diastolic functions in patients with newly diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea syndrome without hypertension

WOS: 000208702502671

Working memory and Perception

Abstract – The ability to teach a robot new skills and tasks without explicit programming is an important goal in robotics. Such capability tends to imply the ability to learn from experience, much like many biological creatures. Evidence suggests that working memory plays a pivotal role in this learning process, in part by focusing attention on the most relevant data. We describe ongoing research to study the utility of computational neuroscience models of working memory within robotic systems. A system comprised of working memory, short term memory, long term memory, spatial reasoning and perception modules is proposed. The paper focuses on the perceptual module and its interaction with the working memory. Results are given to show the current progress. Index Terms – Working memory, robot vision, computer vision, learning, perception.

Exploration of configural representation in landmark learning using working memory toolkit

The mechanisms by which humans and animals use visually-acquired landmarks to find their way around have proved fascinating. Considerable evidence suggests that animals navigate not only on the basis of the overall geometry of the space but also on the basis of a configural representation of the cues. In contrast to earlier linear models of elemental feature representation, configural representation requires individual stimulus be represented in the context of other Stimuli and is typified by non-linear learning tasks such as the transverse patterning problem